Do I Need an Oral Surgeon for Bone Grafting?

I am planning to get dental implants and my dentist said I’ll need some bone grafting done. I did know that this dentist had done a lot of dental implants. When I asked about an oral surgeon for the grafting, he told me he’s been doing bone grafting for four years. Is it safe to have bone grafting done without an oral surgeon?

Drew

Dear Drew,

I’m glad you wrote. It’s always important to make sure your work is being done by someone with both the training and skill. As an example when I looked up dentists offering the dental implant procedure in my city, there were dentists who had no post-doctoral training in dental implants at all, dentists with training but would refer patients to an oral surgeon for everything except the restoration, dentists who obtained the surgical training needed, and dentists who do everything from bone grafting to crowns.

It sounds like your dentist is one who has invested in a lot of training. Plus, he has four years of experience doing the procedure. At that point, there would be some feedback from patients. You can always check his reviews. If a patient had a bad experience with a surgery he’d done, they are very likely to have written about it there.

I would also ask him where he got his training. Here is a partial list of great post-doctoral institutions that teach the more advanced procedures. There are others so if he says somewhere other than these, don’t panic.

• International Congress of Oral Implantologists
• Misch Implant Institute
• American Academy of Implant Dentistry
• Engel Institute

It sounds to me like you’re with a keeper of a caregiver. The best dentists don’t just keep up with the bare minimum of continuing education required by their state, they stay on top of the latest advancements in their field. It sounds like your dentist is among the second group.

This blog is brought to you by a friendly dentist in Nashville, Dr. David Wickness.